Curtis, it's taken me a whole wasted lifetime to begin to have a first inkling of what that simple phrase means. I come from a city built on the blood of slaughtered animals. Talk about benighted.

Angelica's father, driven out of Europe by the Nazis and forced upon the roads of life in a crazy path that led from Austria to Norway to Wyoming to (eventually) New Zealand, had tended cattle as a child, and learnt then, very early, and to his horror, the uses to which one species of living beings routinely puts other species at its disposal; a lesson confirmed for him the hard way, by the Third Reich, in the 1930s, when human beings took the "next step" in cruelty and systematically disposed of other human beings much as if they had been captive animals. He became a committed anti-vivisectionist, spending his later years in voluntary poverty and sending off whatever small sums of money he had to various animal-rights groups all round the world.

Twenty-five years ago he sent us t-shirts made by one of those groups. They were sky blue, with red lettering. The legend on the front read: "I Love Life". On the back: "Live and Let Live".

This post is dedicated to his memory. It means a great deal to me that you've noticed and appreciated it. Many thanks, my friend. (And yes, that Swiss Braunvieh cow with bell in the Engadin, what a beauty she is.)

I saw and recognized the dedication. Those t-shirts should be republished. People really have a hard time wrapping themselves around basic thoughts, however, especially ones that aren't tied to corporate logos and interests. Obviously, reading about and watching, for example, current events in Syria, and knowing just the recent history of the country, prompts all of the thoughts and concerns (not strong enough a word, obviously) you mention. "For example" further, inappropriately, narrows the focus. But with all the royal wedding coverage on television, who has time for that? Curtis